Office apps on the go

Take the office with you

In the digital age, we no longer have to chain ourselves to a desktop computer to get stuff done. Being productive on the go is easier than ever thanks to a wealth of office apps that let us to work remotely.

Microsoft Office

It’s no secret that Microsoft Office is the most well known productivity suite out there – but what you mightn’t know is that it’s available across all platforms. And by that we don’t just mean mobile, tablet and desktop – we’re talking iOS, Android and, of course, Windows Phone.

The different programmes need no introduction, and include Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, Excel and OneNote. They can all be downloaded from the App Store or the Google Play Store (they’ll already be installed on Windows Phones), and available to use for free.

Each free app is available in a sort of ‘lite’ format, so you won’t have access to absolutely everything unless you want to shell out for the Full Monty. But if you’re looking to create or edit documents between the office and getting home (or vice versa), the free versions of the apps will more than suffice.

OfficeSuite 8

You might have seen this app knocking about in the list of pre-installed apps on your smartphone already, but if you’ve never used it, it’s worth a look.

OfficeSuite 8 allows you to edit and view pretty much any document, and has a truly desktop-inspired user interface to make you feel more at home. It also has an inbuilt PDF reader and editor, which is handy for, well… editing and reading PDF files.

Check out the video below for more information, but be warned - if you’re feeling in a particularly irritable mood today, the droll commentary might rub you the wrong way.

Google Docs, Sheets & Slides

Google has created its own suite of apps that let you get stuff done wherever you may be. They’re also handy if you receive emails with various documents attached as you can download, view, and edit them on your phone or tablet, and not have to wait until you’re at a computer.

Google Docs is a word processing app that lets you create, format and edit word-based documents. You can also open Microsoft Word docs, too.

Google Slides is for creating and editing presentations. Just like Google Docs, it also plays nice with its Microsoft equivalent, PowerPoint.

Google Sheets allows you to create spreadsheets, for collaborating data and working with numbers. And, yes - you guessed it, Sheets allows you to open Microsoft Excel documents, too.

Google Keep isn’t strictly an office app, but a great way to keep on top of your notes. It’s quick and easy to use, and allows you to save audio recordings, photos and typed messages.

They’re all available to download from the Google Play Store and Apple App Store for free, and your documents will be saved in the cloud with Google Drive – so no need to worry about them taking up space on your device.